Molecular Diagnosis of Infection

Overview

Molecular diagnostics (detection of nucleic acids bymolecular genetics techniques) becomemore valuable in clinicaldiagnosis of disease. Apart fromthe already long-time used genetic techniques for detection of congenital anomalies,current use of molecular techniques includes detection of microbial pathogens. The character of these techniquesincreases the possibility of achieving diagnosis in cases where classical cultivation is not possible, is not reliable oris not fast enough. As with every new approach, molecular diagnostics have faced encountered reactions from thescientific community. Some scientists tend to overestimate the value of molecular diagnostic techniques, whilesceptics, sometimes influenced by a biased or incomplete knowledge of the technology, think it is of little value. Inthis work, on the basis of literature and our own data from more than 5 years of experience with these methods, wehave assessed the pros and cons of the use of molecular diagnostics of infectious diseases in the light of their potentialuse in clinical practice.

Key words:
molecular diagnostics, microbiological diagnosis, hybridisation, amplification, polymerase chainreaction.